Travis' 'Victory or Death' letter returns to the Alamo

Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

When it left the Alamo in the dark of night 177 years ago, William Barret Travis' "Victory or Death" letter had to be slipped past the Mexican army before courier Albert Martin could deliver the besieged commander's stirring call for help that never came.

The iconic letter's first ride back to the Alamo on Friday won't be either as stealthy or perilous.

The document Travis penned on Feb. 24, 1836, was escorted from Austin to San Antonio by a squadron of police and state troopers on the road with air support in the sky.

Travis' "amazing letter" is worthy of the grand commotion, says historian Stephen Hardin, a McMurry University professor and authority on the Texas Revolution.

1. The Travis Letter

Commandancy of the The Alamo

Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World—

Fellow Citizens & compatriots—

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna — I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man — The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken — I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls — I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch — The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country — Victory or Death.

William Barrett Travis.

Lt. Col. comdt.

P. S. The Lord is on our side — When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn — We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

3. Historic...yeah yeah....

I hate the story of the Alamo. A bunch of stupid white guys walled up in an old ruin against the whole Mexican army because they think they have the right to take the land and murder and disposess it's people. God was on their side, they claimed. What macho idiots. The Mexican war that followed was yet another despicable war crime perpetrated by the USA on a less developed nation. It was so vicious and the cause so venal, that it prompted U.S. Grant to predict that God would punish the US for its barbarity. He went to his grave believing that the the great Civil War was that punishment of this nation.
The USA went on to perpetrate other outrages on the people of the Cuba and the Phillipines and Central and South America, but the Mexican War set the stage for wars of agression on people of color and the corporate colonization of the territories.
Texans shouldn't celebrate, they should be ashamed of this history.

4. You have a profound misunderstanding of the events of the Battle of the Alamo

The later Mexican War may have overshadowed the Texas Revolution, but the Texians did not seize land they did not have a right to "and murder and dispossess it's people".

The Battle of the Alamo was one of many battles of revolution to become an independent state on land which had already been granted to them - while Mexico was imploding it's own constitution and disarming it's citizens in the process.

The Battle of the Alamo was not part of a "despicable war crime perpetrated by the USA on a less developed nation".

The Texians were fighting to become a free state and when the Mexican Army invaded Bexar, they waved the flag of "No Quarter", so the Texians knew they would be fighting until either victory or death - they were under siege.

The Mexican War began a decade after the Texas Revolution.

Texans don't celebrate the Battle of the Alamo, they somberly remember it.

It is the Battle of San Jacinto - under awesome Sam Houston, in whose city I live - that we celebrate as the victory of our independence as a free state.

Texas became annexed by the USA a decade later, in 1845.

The letter reprinted above, is heartbreaking in it's both it's pleas for help and Travis's commitment until the bitter end.

7. I think that Mexico was going to lose half of it's territory

no matter who it's leader was. The US had adopted a manifest destiny way of thinking that conveniently self justified taking the lands of natives and foreign powers. The Texas revolution is more of a complex matter than what the movies and a lot of history books paints it to be.